


Some Nights We Open up the Flood

by galfridian



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 12:12:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3067388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galfridian/pseuds/galfridian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Council meeting, contemplation on beginnings, and skies full of stars. (For the prompt: Marcus/Abby, fluffy modern AU.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Some Nights We Open up the Flood

"Councillor Kane." Abby offers a polite smile, pausing at the doorway.

"Councillor Griffin," Marcus returns. His smile is easier, but there’s a hint of irony in his tone. He gestures for her to enter first.

Tonight, they’re the last to arrive, and the two remaining seats are opposite each other at the head of the table. Outside, the bite of winter has sunk into the Virginia hills, but Abby can still taste Marcus’s kiss. As they sit, their eyes meet, and a heat no cold can touch spreads through her.

 

_She knows that one day, Clarke will ask when this began. But she doesn’t know what beginning to give her._

 

In a week, the city council will have its first meeting of the term (her first meeting, period), and Thelonius is hosting a dinner party to get the new councillors acquainted with the old.

"Abby! It’s been…a while." Marcus takes a swig of champagne and steps hesitantly toward them, but he doesn’t meet her eye. It’s smart, this avoidance act, and Abby quickly stops appreciating Marcus Kane in a suit and remembers she’s supposed to hate him.

"Yes, it has," she says. "And I’d prefer ‘Councillor Griffin,’ if you don’t mind."

"Ah," he says. "Of course."

He excuses himself a few minutes later, walking between them to greet another third term Councillor, and his fingers brush her wrist as he does.

"I’m sorry," Thelonious says, offering her a glass of champagne. "I know this will be difficult, but he’s a good councilman."

Abby nods, stealing a glance. She takes a sip of champagne to hide her smile.

 

 

_It’s a good beginning. The city council gives Abby the opportunity to see that Marcus has changed. It’s a good story to tell Clarke._

_It isn’t the truth._

 

Six months before the election, while Clarke is on spring break with her friends, he shows up at her door.

It’s been a year since they’ve spoken. Her last memory of Marcus is standing across from him at Jake’s funeral.

"What do you want?" she asks.

"To take down Diana Sydney. But I need your help."

Not the answer she expects. “And why would I do that? How would I do that?”

He sighs, that resigned sigh of a man with information he’d rather keep hidden. “Because she set Jake up. And there’s proof in these files.”

 

_This is the truth. Or it’s closer to it. Pouring over Jake’s evidence, over everything that got him mixed up with dangerous people when all he ever wanted was to help others, and realizing that someone took advantage of him._

_They keep their investigation secret. When he turns the information over to the police, he does it without her name on it. Because Clarke can never know how deeply her father was betrayed._

_So maybe it isn’t the truth of where this began – where they began – but it is where they found each other again._

_There are other beginnings. This is the first:_

 

She’s eighteen, a terrified pre-med in over her head. He’s nineteen, juggling two jobs and pre-law. They’re in the same undergrad English class – a course known for breaking the spirits of people who actually enjoy writing – and midterms hit her like a freight train.

But then there’s Marcus – determined, driven Marcus – and he looks at her like it’s ridiculous to think she could ever fail at anything.

And then there’s Jake, who rooms across the hall from Marcus, an idealist studying to be an environmental lawyer. He’s taken her on a few dates. It’s been nice. It’s been promising.

But Marcus drags her away from the library and her pile of books. And they just drive. Speed out of town, into the hills, windows down. Outside, it’s freezing, but the cold wakes her up. She feels alive and invincible.

So she tells him to pull over. They climb out of the car and sit on the roof. She kisses Marcus Kane, cold winds whipping around them. Later, she’ll choose Jake, and Marcus will understand, and everything will be good and easy for almost eighteen years. But tonight, they sit on car and about the stars and about how one day, people will live in space.

 

 

_And as good as beginnings are, and as stunning or painful as endings can be, middles are great, too._

 

"Councillor Griffin," he whispers, his mouth on her neck.

"Councillor Kane," she replies, gripping fistfuls of his worn jacket.

It’s winter in Virginia. The skies are clear, and the stars are out, and for a moment, the universe is theirs.


End file.
